John Lydon To Host Facebook Q&A To Mark Digital Release Of PiL Documentary

John Lydon will host a virtual Q&A session on Facebook, on Sunday, 7 June to mark the digital release of the 2018 documentary about Public Image Ltd., The Public Image Is Rotten, Variety reports.

The livestream event will start at 10 a.m. in the U.K. and 5 a.m. EST. Lydon will be answering questions from fans alongside the film’s director, Tabbert Fiiller, and producer and PiL manager John ‘Rambo’ Stevens.

The Public Image Is Rotten premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2017, went on to receive a worldwide release in 2018 and is now available on Vimeo On Demand. The film chronicles how Lydon re-emerged after the dissolution of the Sex Pistols to form PiL, and delves into the post-punk outfit’s career and influence — from their initial run from 1978 to 1992, during which they recorded landmark titles such as First Issue and Metal Box, to their break-up and eventual reunion in 2009. Along with Lydon, the movie features interviews with other former and current PiL band members, as well as artists like Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea, The Beastie Boys’ Ad-Rock and Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore.

In an interview with Rolling Stone around the film’s 2018 release, Lydon spoke about the how the project put into perspective just how sought after his own image rights were, and the lengths to which others would go to keep them from him: “There have been so many chiselers out there putting up obstacle courses,” he said.

“They want to over-promote the first step on the ladder I ever took, which is the Pistols, but deny us the rights to any of the footage. It was a real, real serious problem. It’s unbelievable the cottage industry that has formed around the Pistols and PiL. There were record labels who wouldn’t support us in any financial way at all.”

Listen to the Best of PiL on Apple Music and Spotify.

Format: UK English